Heineken Champions Cup Preview: Sale Sharks v Edinburgh
Edinburgh have made six changes to the side which lost out agonisingly to La Rochelle last week, as they head down to Greater Manchester to face Sale in what is already a must-win game if they have notions of continuing in this season’s abridged Champions Cup.
Stuart McInally returns to the starting line-up and will once again be designated as captain as he makes his 150th appearance in the Edinburgh jersey. He’ll pack down alongside Rory Sutherland and Simon Berghan, who swap their seats on last week’s bench with Pierre Schoeman and WP Nel respectively for this week’s tussle.
With Andrew Davidson joining the list of locks unavailable to injury, Ben Toolis will be partnered in the second-row by Jamie Hodgson, and rest protocols dictate that Jamie Ritchie is due a rest so his place in the back-row is taken over by Magnus Bradbury.
Charlie Shiel gets an opportunity to see how he can fare against World Cup-winning Faf de Klerk with Henry Pyrgos also rested, but Shiel will at least have the steadying hand of Jaco van der Walt to see him through the game.
Another hot-prospect benefiting from the resting of a more senior player is Jack Blain, who wears the number 14 jersey in place of Darcy Graham, with Blair Kinghorn and Duhan van der Merwe completing the outside back trio.
Chris Dean starts at inside centre to ring up his 100th cap for Edinburgh, and the local lad was understandably delighted at the prospect of joining some illustrious names in the Centurions Club.
“It’s extremely exciting. It was always a goal. When you see the names up on the board in the team room when you first join, it was something I felt was unrealistic at the time , or a long way away, but it’s crept up. To be able to be a centurion for the club I grew up supporting and the only one I have ever played for is something pretty special and not an achievement I’m taking for granted.
“The likes of Simon Taylor, Simon Webster and Mike Blair are the kind of guys I remember absolutely adoring growing up. And then also the guys I’m playing alongside now, like Stuart McInally, Grant Gilchrist, Cornell du Preez, Hamish Watson – you’re certainly on a board with a lot of fantastic names, so to be up there alongside them is pretty cool. It’s a massive privilege because when I set my career goals out one of them was to be a club centurion.”
Come back later on to see forwards coach Steven Lawrie’s thoughts on the game ahead
Edinburgh: Blair Kinghorn, Jack Blain, Mark Bennett, Chris Dean,
Duhan van der Merwe, Jaco van der Walt, Charlie Shiel;
Rory Sutherland, Stuart McInally, Simon Berghan, Ben Toolis,
Jamie Hodgson, Magnus Bradbury, Hamish Watson, Viliame Mata
Replacements: David Cherry, Pierre Schoeman, WP Nel,
Andries Ferreira, Luke Crosbie, Nic Groom, Nathan Chamberlain,
James Johnstone
The post Heineken Champions Cup Preview: Sale Sharks v Edinburgh appeared first on Scottish Rugby Blog.